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Aspasia Karras
CRIME and unemployment grab the headlines, but an even greater obstacle to putting South Africa on the fast growth track is illiteracy. The fact that the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) put the issue high on its agenda at its first meeting this year highlights the growing concern that without education, all efforts to boost the economy will be stymied.
The Nedlac constituencies committed themselves to finding a way to fund industry-based training by the next council meeting on May 9. The decision coincides with Adult Literacy Week, and the tabling in Cabinet of the Department of Labour’s Green Paper on human resource development.
The fact that a quarter of the population can barely make out the headline, let alone get as far as the first sentence of this article, is on the agenda again. The most recent literacy study completed in 1995 showed that 10-million to 15-million South Africans are functionally illiterate, in other words, they do not have the competencies of a standard seven school pupil. Between seven and 10-million do not have the competencies of a standard five pupil.
According to Enrico Fourie, director of the National Literacy Co-operation (NLC) – an umbrella group for more than 150 non- governmental organisations in the literacy field – functional illiteracy entails an inability to abstract information, draw conclusions, or make the necessary associations in a given text.
While the statistical parameters are measured against an ideal definition of what standard seven or five competency should represent, the impact of the disrupted and historically unequal South African education system throws even these figures in doubt. The reality is that close on 15-million people simply cannot read.
The impact of functional illiteracy on the economy only becomes obvious when, for example, you are stuck behind someone who takes 20 minutes at the automatic teller machine. Fourie explains: “Because of the stigma attached to illiteracy, it is internalised, especially because of our society’s hegemonic First World culture emphasising tertiary learning.”
Nevertheless, studies show that widespread dysfunctionality is especially concentrated in the 16-to-25 and 35-to-60 age groups – critical groupings whose reading problem is eating away at the future growth and development of South Africa.
Adding to the problem is that the most radical programmes undertaken by the government and institutions focus on employed workers, rather than the unemployed, who are the greatest victims of illiteracy. Consequently, the programmes concentrate on industry-based training rather than holistic educational competency.
Wendy Dobson at Nedlac says the debate boils down to “who pays, how much, and what is the money going to be used for? If there is a payroll levy, is it applicable to companies that already pay a lot on training?”
The national human resources policy envisaged by the Department of Labour will establish a national training fund. Currently, certain sectors such as the hospitality and metal and engineering industries have formalised training funds that set training standards and implement them.
The question then is whether there should be a single national front or sectoral ones. Sectoral funds raise concerns that certain areas would slip through, while a national fund that would be formalised and tripartite in nature could set appropriate standards, decide on national needs and priorities, and then support sectoral funds.
Labour supports the national fund concept and is also proposing a 4% payroll levy. According to Dobson, business has a different view. “If they can avoid the levy they will. Where they are already spending a lot on training, which is the case in the financial sector where the product is based on training, they would want to negotiate a rebate.”
She adds that business believes a national fund would be too bureaucratic and too distanced from sectoral needs, while encouraging the proliferation of government bodies and institutions.
More importantly, such a fund and body would not help the unemployed or special interests, like the informal sector, which encompasses the bulk of the population.
The debate in Nedlac reflects a positive reaction to the formal sector’s human resource issue, but the Presidential Lead Project to promote Adult Basic Education and Training (Abet) for the majority of the population is floundering.
Furthermore, the Department of Education has created a line function to deal with Abet, but has not provided a line function budget item for it. As a result, R50- million was allocated as an interim amount to the programme, and represents less than 1% of the entire education budget.
The difficulty of prioritising adult education is patently obvious, but the pressing timeframes imposed by the growth, employment and redistribution (Gear) policy needs should throw a different light on the issue.
Gear’s success depends on building an economy capable of competing in the global market. A reasonably skilled workforce is central to this model – hence the concentration on human resource development. But the underlying South African literacy statistic cannot support the vision.
Fourie argues that the impact of illiteracy is not only felt in terms of the economy and human resources, it also threatens the fledgling democracy in a far more serious way, because people are handicapped by lacking basic political skills, which further undermines the domestic and social environment.
Much of the R50-million in education is being spent on a project called Ithuteng – ready to learn. It focuses on 10 000 adult learners per province, and is being conducted with a parallel project funded by the European Union, and initiated by the NLC – the “thousand learner project”. The aim is to test standards, norms and values in terms of developing a basic Abet programme for the country.
Fourie explains: “We are trying to develop a localised system with which we can reach as many learners as possible with the least possible resources.”
The next step is to develop key policy guidelines, which they hope to formalise through legislation by 1998. At the moment, however, the statistics are bleak for new adult learners in the South African system. According to EDU, an education statistics agency, only 330 000 new learners have entered the system per year since 1994.
The Abet vision outlines a system that can provide literacy at a very low cost without compromising a general education standard. The system should be flexible and comply with particular community needs. The initial result of the pilot learner programmes shows that it can be done. But the lack of resources in education are frustrating hopes.
The example of the Gauteng province night- school system is illuminating. While the infrastructure is available, and gives the province an advantage, the system of adult education simply reflects the formal education system. This is not what a fully fledged Abet programme would do; it should provide a base from which adult learners could enter the job market, and would begin to integrate with the national human resource programmes, supplementing their functional approach and developing well- rounded assets to society.
The lack of money and strategic planning is preventing the development of such a system even where infrastructure exists. The lobby for a restitution fund would begin to address the question.
The point of the Adult Literacy Week marketing exercise is to emphasise that adult basic education is not only a problem for the Education Department, it is a national crisis and should be planned for as such.